he's just misunderstood —

Marvelous news: Punisher series coming to Netflix

John Bernthal will reprise the role he played in Daredevil.

For many viewers, the introduction of Frank Castle—aka The Punisher—was the highpoint of Daredevil's second season. Played by John Bernthal, Castle takes a very different approach to ridding Hell's Kitchen of crime, choosing the kill shot over just crippling the bad guys. Evidently Marvel was listening to the chorus of fans calling for a full Punisher series; on Friday Entertainment Weekly reported that the comic empire has ordered just that.

Bernthal is actually the fourth actor to play Frank Castle, after Dolph Lundgren (The Punisher, 1989), Thomas Jane (The Punisher, 2004), and Ray Stevenson (Punisher: War Zone, 2008). The character is one of Marvel's grittiest, and those previous three adaptations did poorly at the box office. But we live in a post-Deadpool age, where comic characters no longer have to be PG-13. Not to mention that a series on Netflix enjoys freedoms denied to tentpole cinema releases.

This will be the sixth Marvel series to run on Netflix. We've already seen Jessica Jones and Daredevil, with Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders all in the works. Certainly, Disney's acquisition of Marvel for $4 billion in 2009 continues to look like a clever move, particularly in contrast to how DC's catalogue is being translated into live action. Now if only someone would finally push the button on a Dredd series for Netflix...